LEWIS Surry's last-minute try gave Chippenham some late cheer as they suffered their 11th straight National Three South West defeat of the season at Allington Field.

Barnstaple were restored to the top of the table with the bonus-point win after establishing a comfortable advantage by half time, the hosts' cause not being helped by a red card for full-back Matt Whitehead after the break.

In gale-force conditions, scrum-half James Bath got the visitors on the front foot, picking up from a scrum on the halfway line and scorching to the try line and Winston James added another as Chippenham's defence cracked, fly-half Isaac Hydleman landing a conversion.

Sam Roberts added a third score before half time but Chippenham had a bright spell at the start of the second half without being able to breach the try line.

Lock Matt Gohl was sin-binned for the visitors but home chances for Ryan Surry and Brad Doggett went begging.

Whitehead was then shown a second yellow card for a late tackle, having been sin-binned in the first period and Barnstaple's bonus-point score followed as Will Topps crossed the line.

A Chris Lowrie score rounded off Barnstaple's tally before Surry went over for Chippenham in the dying moments.